Drop Zone 875`

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Drop Zone hueytrooperrope.gif (2675 bytes) 875.

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Way BeLow~~~ NC.jpg (1914 bytes) New Dr0p Zone`s...

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TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

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--Robert Frost, 1920

"We're newswk1.jpg (24601 bytes) goin' up

that 3dskull.gif (40695 bytes) hill."

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Ain't that nice?"

We`re gonna get those Bunker`s up on Hill 875 for ThanksGiv`in ! The speaker was a Sargent of the Second Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade, and he was talking to Newsweek correspondent Edward Behr, who, minutes earlier, had been helicoptered from the U.S. Base at Dak To onto the slopes of Hill 875 in time to cover the final assault.

"You goin' up?" the Sergeant asked Behr— who nodded assent. "You'll need a gas mask then," said the Sergeant. "We're gonna use tear gas on them bunkers. Connolly! Bring the gentleman that spare gas mask." Then, softly, he added: "Reckon we have spares of pretty well everything in the Second Battalion right now." "What the Sergeant meant, of course," Behr cabled later, "was spares of everything but men." The Second had taken a fearful mauling and the place reeked of death and war. There were piles of rubbish everywhere— spent shells, empty cartridge cases, bloodied bandages. The GI's had the vacant look of men who have been under fire too long.

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Suddenly, Out of Our BunKer a few yards away from me there emerged a company of the 173rd`s

NC.jpg (1914 bytes) fourth battilion, which had been called in to reinforce the shattered second. There was a great deal of shouting: " Now i want you to get up there and get them sons of Bitches." As the G I` s moved forward, I kept going just behind them. For five minutes the going was good and I had the wild hope that it would turn out to be a quick, inglourious and safe walk to the top. Then motar shells began to explode on our right flanks. Some of the guys were yelling "Go! Go! Go!" Others nearly beside themselves with tension poured out a stream of obsenities. We were coming close to the top now and the North Vietnamese were lobbing shell after shell into the advancing line. Soon their came cries of'litters, more litters.' A man was carried past me on a stretcher. He looked no more than 17, and from his olive skin might have been Mexican or Puerto Rican. He was moaning and looked deranged. 'Shell-shock case,' somebody said, and I looked around. The man who spoke was practically naked from the waist down. Though he was not visibly injured, the blast of the mortar shells had blown off his trousers. He didn't answer when I spoke to him. Temporarily, he was stone deaf.

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NC.jpg (1914 bytes) I stayed put in an empty bunker, a North Vietnamese one from the look of it, while the GI's advanced to within 20 yards of the crest. I could hear them shouting, and for the first time there was sustained small-arms fire. They were firing into bunker positions, and this was followed by the red-and-black swirl of smoke from flame throwers. Then there was silence and I moved forward again. As I did, the stretchers started coming down the hill past me once more. On one was a GI, dead of a hideous wound at chest and shoulder level. I recognized him as a tall, red-haired machine gunner I had walked behind on the lower slope. Scattered all over the hill were vestiges of the battle: abandoned packs, charred helmets and scraps of uniforms, both American and North Vietnamese. Lying outside one bunker was a gray-green object which puzzled me. I looked more closely, and a wave of horror suddenly hit me. It was a man's shoulder and the stump of an arm. Nearby was a charred boot with black, burnt flesh attached.

NC.jpg (1914 bytes) As the soldiers moved forward i kept going just behind them. For five minutes the going was good and I had the wild hope that it would turn out to be a quick, inglourious and safe walk to the top. Then motar shells began to explode on our right flanks. Some of the guys were yelling "Go! Go! Go!" Others nearly beside themselves with tension poured out a stream of obsenities. We were coming close to the top now and the North Vietnamese were lobbing shell after shell into the advancing line. Soon their came cries of...

'litters, more litters.' somebody said, and I looked around. The man who spoke was practically naked from the waist down. Though he was not visibly injured, the blast of the mortar shells had blown off his trousers. He didn't answer when I spoke to him. Temporarily, he was stone deaf.

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"We've got the hill," said one gaunt and grimy GI somberly. Others sat, sprawled or lay in the landing zone, waiting indifferently to be helicoptered back to the base at Dak To and a hot turkey dinner. Hill 875 had finally fallen to the Americans after five of the bloodiest days of the Vietnamese war.

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In one sense… The capture of Hill 875 was a famous victory. The G I `s, Chiefly the men of The 173^rd Airborne, had fought with almost incredible valor to route out a deeply entrenched enemy. But at least 158 Americans died in the fight for the hill and 402 more had been wounded. Not since the fighting in the IA DRANG VALLEY two years ago, had the U.S. troops taken such a beating, and inevitably, questions arose:

Was hill 875 held for most of the battle by no more than a reinforced company of north Vietnamese worth such a price?

Why, indeed, were theParatroopers fighting there at all?

LarryBurrows1.jpg (23549 bytes) Trail's End:

    NC.jpg (1914 bytes) The answer to that lay in the town of Dak To in Vietnam's central highlands. A scruffy village 20 miles from the juncture of the Laotian, Cambodian and South Vietnamese borders, Dak To is not much to look at and would not be worth fighting over- except for one thing. It sits at the terminus of many of the trails that meander down from North Vietnam through Laos and Cambodia and along which flow supplies and reinforcements for the North Vietnamese troops fighting in South Vietnam.
   Dak To, with its airstrip and U.S. Special Forces camp, is part of the system of border bases set up to staunch that flow, a job that until early this month was carried out by a handful of U.S. Troops and a band of local Montagnard tribesmen. But then, with intelligence reports showing that the North Vietnamese had massed some 7,000 men in the hills surrounding Dak To, Gen. William C. Westmoreland rushed elements of the Fourth Infantry Division, the First Cavalry Division, and the 173rd Airborne Brigade into the area. Ever since, they and the enemy have been carrying on a bloody, on-again-off-again duel in the jungle- a duel that reached its Crescendo in the Battle for Hill 875.
   The fighting on Hill 875 started on a Sunday morning when the Second Battalion of the 173rd Airborne was sweeping the area southwest of Dak To in search of enemy troops. Orders were given to get to the top of the hill before dark, and the Paratroopers moved ahead without incident until they were about midway to the crest. Then, abruptly, mortar shells came pouring into their column, while North Vietnamese small-arms and machine-gun fire came clipping through the bamboo. "Jesus, they were all over the place- in bunkers and tied in trees and everything," one Paratrooper told Newsweek's John Donnelly; "The NonComs kept shouting: 'Get up the hill; get up the goddam hill.'

But we couldn't. We were surrounded and we were firing in all directions."

Terror:

NC.jpg (1914 bytes) After the first onslaught, dead and wounded Paratroopers lay on all sides, but the Second Battalion managed to set up a perimeter at mid-slope as night began to fall. It was to be a night filled with terror. GI's, living and dead, were crowded body to body in the shell craters and under the trees inside the perimeter, and all night long the enemy attack went on. "They were hitting us with mortars and recoilless-rifle fire all night, and everybody was trying to get underground," a survivor from the Second Battalion remembered later. "Every time you tried to dig, you put your shovel in somebody.

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The dead guys were everywhere."

In the morning,

NC.jpg (1914 bytes) with 71 Paratroopers lying dead on the slope and another 86 wounded, Medical-Evacuation Helicopters came over to try to lift out the casualties. But heavy enemy ground fire knocked eight of the Choppers out of the sky and quickly drove the others back to Dak To. Now U.S. airplanes were overhead constantly, striking at enemy positions on the top of the hill and downward to within 50 yards of the beleaguered Troopers. Then, sweeping past at 300 miles an hour, a U.S. F-100 fighter-bomber dropped a 500 pound bomb into the U.S. perimeter. The bomb exploded at treetop level, showering the area with shrapnel. Recalls Pfc Johnnie Hayes: "A lot of guys died from that bomb. It just blew the dead and wounded all over the place. God, it was awful."
Trapped and decimated, with most of its Officers and Medics dead, the Second Battalion could only hang on. Walking among the wounded, trying to keep up morale, Sgt. Maj. Hector Lehva told one Paratrooper with a long red beard that he intended to get emergency resupply of two items right away. "What, Sarg-Major," came the reply, "beer and cigarettes?" "No," said Lehva. "Razor blades and shoe polish . . . so you guys can look like Paratroops again." As he told the story after the battle, Lehva's voice kept catching. "Those kids lying in there," he jerked out. "They kept holding up their thumbs and saying 'Airborne.'

Relief:

   Late Monday afternoon, a column made up of elements of the 173rd's Fourth Battalion Climbed Hill 875 and linked up with their battered comrades. A landing zone for the helicopters was hacked out, and by noon Tuesday- with U.S. air strikes continuing to pound the enemy positions- the Med-Evac choppers were able to lift out the wounded. By nightfall, the medical clearing station at Dak To was jammed with casualties. The seriously wounded were tended first- if the doctors thought they could be saved. Then, after quick treatment to staunch the flow of blood or bind up an ugly wound, they were rushed onto C-130s for a flight to the hospital at Qui Nhon.
   Many of the wounded troopers at Dak To, after three days under heavy fire with little food and water, were still in shock. Grimy, bearded, their uniforms stained almost red from the dust, most of them had little to say. But one soldier with his left leg and foot hanging in red tatters, came off the Med-Evac chopper with tears running down his face, screaming: "That goddamed hill. Those goddamed gooks. I ain't never goin' back. No one can make me."
   "With victories like this, who needs defeats?" muttered one newsman quietly to a colleague. But to the U.S. Command in Saigon, the situation did not seem that discouraging. "Senior Staff Officers," cabled Correspondent Behr late last week, "are convinced that as bloody as the action on Hill 875 was, it may have helped to write finish to a North Vietnamese plan to attack the base at Dak To itself."

NC.jpg (1914 bytes) U.S. intelligence sources agree on the purpose behind the North Vietnamese operations around Dak To since the beginning of November. The enemy, they theorize, aimed to attract large numbers of U.S. troops to the area along the Cambodian border, thus taking the pressure off the hard-pressed Viet Cong in the populous villages in the Mekong Delta and the Coastal Plains.

"The obvious question becomes:

...is the North Vietnamese strategy working? More than likely, it is too early to give a final answer. No one knows at this time whether the Viet Cong are making progress in the villages while the GI's Like Richard Geer and Ronald Miesner are off fighting North Vietnamese regulars in the highlands. And no one knows for certain just how badly hurt the North Vietnamese have been in the Dak To area."

High dragonL.gif (35442 bytes) Morale:

NC.jpg (1914 bytes) the enemy has lost 1,400 men since the fighting around Dak To began. (Total U.S. dead so far: 285.) But many observers in the area are inclined to doubt that Vietnamese losses have really been that great. And at the very least Hill 875 proved that the enemy's morale is still high.
The realization that this is the case, is apt to give a man grim thoughts. When I finally got off Hill 875, I flew back to Dak To with three wounded GI's. 'I'm all right,' one of them told me. 'But, you know, I have the feeling I'll be back for Hill 876 and 877.' Almost without thinking, I gazed out of the helicopter- and saw ridge after ridge stretching off into hazy distance as far as the eye could reach.

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2 GIs Mutilated In 'Friendly AO'

   LZ ENGLISH- Two Paratroopers died a horrible and senseless death early this month when they walked into the waiting arms of North Vietnamese or Viet Cong.
   They thought they were going to see a couple of local 'lovelies'. You know the spot, 'The Ville', right outside Bunker 15 in Sector 11. The communists were waiting for them. When the bodies were found the next morning it was more than enough to make even the most hardened trooper feel like throwing up his breakfast.
   They had been shot through the head. They had been fragged.
   Was this worth a trip to the Ville?
   The bunker guards are in a world of hurt for letting them through, a lot of good it's going to do those two troopers.
   No one, repeat, no one warned these men the VC were in the area. Not one of those sweet-smiling young things who have always been so friendly let anyone know the VC were there. But a funny thing happened that night. Usually the girls come up through the wire selling 'J's.' There wasn't any sweet-smiling girl with 'dew' that night. Think maybe it was a coincidence?. It couldn't have happened to you and your buddy--Could it?
   Oh, yes, the troopers had M-16's. So if you catch a round in the gut or leg and the Doc says it's a 5.56 mm, well, there it is.

Radio Operator is No Ham Now

   Pfc Dudley Martin of Detroit Mi, used to be a ham radio operator. He would spend untold hours fiddling with dials and peering at meter readings trying to get another mile or two in range out of his 'rig.'
   Martin uses his self-taught skills on a more serious job. He is the Platoon RTO, (Radio Telephone Operator) for 1st Platoon, A Co 2d Bn, 503d Inf. Now when he has to get that 'extra mile' out of a radio it may be a matter of life and death.
   Martin's job- isn't the best one to have. It's hard work, the RTO has to carry a lot more equipment than the average Infantryman, this takes a strong back. When you tote a 27 pound radio, two antennas, an extra handset and batteries necessary to operate the radio 24 hours a day for four or five days, you have a load. Then add the items necessary to keep an Infantryman alive and functioning. This starts off with a rifle and approximately 400 rounds of ammo. Every Infantryman (and an RTO is an Infantryman) also carries several grenades. The 'comfort items' come next. Food and water for four days (and in 115 degree heat that takes a lot of water), a poncho and liner are the minimum required.
   When the Platoon 'saddles up' to move out the RTO is expected to throw his 85-pound rucksack on his back and keep up with everyone else. On the steep mountains, dense jungle, and thick muddy swamps of Vietnam this is a stern test.
   The RTO has the second most dangerous job in a Line Platoon. The Point Man faces the greatest number of hazards, then the RTO. The enemy knows that the radio is link that allows the Sky Soldiers to call in certain death and destruction from the blue skies. He tries to knock out the radio. If he can injure the RTO and damage the radio, Charlie figures he can save himself a lot of casualties. The latent fire power an RTO carries is more than equal to the load he carries.
   Martin likes his job "I don't think I'd trade with anybody. I know that my job is important," he says. When asked if he's had enough of radios he says "Never. When I get back to the world I'm going right back to my ham radio."

Charlie Rangers Work Tigers

   LZ ENGLISH- A unit that is operating with the 173d Airborne Brigade that nobody seems to remember is C Co, 75th Rangers. We don't hear too much about them because they are operating 'separately' most of the time. They've supported the 1st Air Cav, the 4th Inf Div and IFFV. At the present time they are here with the 'Herd' at LZ English. The tactical situation requires them to run extensive reconniasance missions in the Tiger Mountains.
   The thick brush, booby traps and elusiveness of the local VC/NVA make their job very difficult. The Rangers refer to the Tigers as a 'dirty area' to work in. Sgt Thomas Shakers said, "This is the toughest area I've ever worked in. The slow-down hills and the wait-a-minute or grab-your-rucksack vines wear a man out."
   The Charlie Rangers are not soft; far from it. They had the deepest penetration into Cambodia of any American unit. They're tough and they know their job. It's just the unusual terrain that's causing them problems. Charlie Rangers are finding out what everyone in the 'Herd' knew for ages...don't play around when you go into the Tigers. The Tiger Mountains and their lone partner, 'Monster Mountain', have long been a thorn in the side of Paratroopers in the 173d.
   The hills are nearly vertical, hot, dry, vine covered and infested with every kind of insect known to man. When a trail is discovered it's impossible to use because of the multitude of booby traps.

173d GI Absorbs Frag Blast

   It started off as normal Combat Assault during these modern days of pacification. But it ended up looking like a re-run from the days of Search and Destroy.
   The 1st Battalion Hawk Team was moving quietly through the hills when Staff Sgt Charles Radcliffe, Shelbyville Ky, heard voices ahead. He quickly formed his team into an ambush and waited anxiously.
   After an hour or so of waiting, Radcliffe said to hell with it and went after them. He had the team drop their gear as he and Sp4 James Dolan, Scituate Mass, stalked the NVA, listening to the distant jabbering and using it as a guide. Five NVA were huddled in the brush ahead. "They kept talking until we were within ten feet of them" recalled Radcliffe, a recipient of two Silver Stars. "We fired them up and got two right away, but the other three made a hasty retreat into the brush."
   The NVA had left behind a 60mm mortar and a B40 rocket launcher. Dolan and Radcliffe quickly gathered the booty, but Charlie was ready with his own surprise. While the two Paratroopers were gathering the weapons, the NVA hurled grenades into their position. Instinctively Jim Dolan pushed Radcliffe into the brush and dove onto the grenade, absorbing the full blast with his body.
   Sgt Radcliffe carried the fatally wounded Paratrooper to a clear area and called in a Dust-Off. Wounded by shrapnel, Radcliffe refused evacuation and stayed with his team while air strikes blasted the hill. The rest of Co B made a Combat Assault to Radcliffe's new position. He led them to the empty base camp.
   The 3d Platoon had better luck, 1Lt Jethro Matthews, Sumpter SC, moved his unit into a heavy woodline. They hadn't moved 15 feet when the NVA opened up with automatic weapons and grenades. They succeeded in flanking the enemy and killed eight NVA while capturing two machineguns, a mortar, a rifle and webbed gear.
   An award for heroism is pending for courageous Sp4 James Dolan.

4th 'Souveniers' Bags to Herd

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   LZ UPLIFT - Nobody likes to fill sandbags, especially a Paratrooper. Filling sandbags is just one of these necessary military details that gets under a guy's craw. But when a unit is gifted 30,000 filled bags it's like manna from heaven.
   A unit of the 4th Infantry Division was staying temporarily at LZ Uplift, but still had to fill sandbags ...about 30,000 of 'em. Although necessary as protection from VC mortars, the knowledge that they would be moving out soon, made the task seem like work.
   Several men from the "Herd" would stand around and discuss the project. Somebody, nobody seems to know who, came up with the bright idea, "instead of emptying those sandbags when you move out, why not trade them, full, to us for new empty ones." The 4th Infantry bought the idea. When the Ivy Men left they didn't have to go to the trouble of dumping and rebundling the bags.
   The troopers from the 173d didn't let on, but they had alot of plans for those full sandbags....most of them spelled less work and more protection. The Tactical Operations Center (TOC) needed sandbags for the roof... a new stand-down hooch needed sandbags for protection... bunkers had to be built... all this work fell to the 173d Engineers and 3d Bn, but not the filling of sandbags.
   When the 4th moved out, leaving their sandbags behind, the Paratroopers took them over. They loaded them on trucks hauled them where they belonged, and started stacking protection.
   Sgt Charles Ridgedell of Amite La, and the 173d Engineers summed up the work-saving swap, "I think we really got over. Those sandbags saved a lot of work. Hell, we put 3,000 on the roof of the stand-down hooch alone, and didn't even dent the supply."

Thanks, Ivy sandbag Asoldier.gif (2106 bytes) fillers.

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Sky Soldier Pacification - Bad Program for NVA Division.

  LZ ENGLISH - "Our mission, of providing security for the people in northern Binh Dinh Province has been a real success," said a veteran 172d Abn Bde Officer who has been operating in the area for nearly two years.
   Captain WR Lipke Chief of the 'Order of Battle' section in the 173d Military Intelligence Detachment, who has been with the detachment since January 1969, recalls the time it was unsafe to even go outside the gate. That was prior to the 173d's involvement in the pacification program when the enemy roamed at will throughout the area.
   The Richland Wash, native said after the 173d joined the Government of Vietnam pacification program in April, 1969, there was a sharp increase of the number of captured enemy and the number of enemy killed.   "I firmly believe that Vietnamization is working in Binh Dinh and that the ARVN's will be strong enough when we leave," Cpt Lipke concluded.
   The successful operations of the "Sky Soldiers" forced the hardcore Viet Cong guerrillas to flee into the rugged mountains adjacent to the lowlands, where they stayed while other who were sympathetic to the Viet Cong continued their farming occupation.
   Cpt Lipke said the most significant factor since the task of supporting pacification in Binh Dinh fell on the 173d was the coming of the 3d NVA Division to the area in September 1969. Their mission was to assist the local VC forces, who pleaded for their help, with the intentions of regaining the control of the people in the area.
   While the 3d Division was here there were three major battles that crippled the enemy forces, according to Cpt Lipke. He named the November 1969 Paratrooper contact with the 2d Regiment of the Division, during which the "Sky Soldiers" killed some 150 Reds and wounded another 150. The remainder of the Regiment was chased by the Troopers through November and December 1969 and the 2d Regiment plans for a Tet offensive was nullified.
   The second major incident took place in January and February this year when the 22d Regiment of the 3d NVA Division located at the time in Tam Quan Mountains, was whipped by elements of the 173d. The Airborne Troopers had continous contact with the Reds on Hill 474, where they killed 150 Communists and wounded some 200. This was another important victory against the enemy that curtailed the enemy's plans for the Tet Offensive.
   The third major operation took place in April and May when the remainder of the 2d NVA Regiment went to Phu My District, where the 173d Troopers and elements of the 22d ARVN Division killed 200 and wounded an equal number of the enemy.
   Many of the NVA Regulars realize their leaders have told them outright lies concerning the situation in the Republic of Vietnam. During their training and indoctrination in North Vietnam they were told that they would be welcomed with open arms. Besides low morale, the enemy often faces shortage of food, clothing and supplies. He explained most of the enemy are tired of fighting the war against their southern neighbors and that they really want to go back to North Vietnam.

Sky Soldier Finds
Four Booby Traps

   An alert and intuitive Pointman of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, saved the lives of his fellow Infantrymen as well as his own when he found four booby traps along a trail during a patrol in Vietnam's Coastal Highlands.
   "I pulled point because I was familiar with the region we were going into. I knew the VC had saturated the area with booby traps and I wanted to be up front where I could find them," remarked Sgt Manlio H Salazar, a Squad Leader. Salazar's Squad was the lead element during a Company size operation at the base of the Nui Loi Mountain six miles northeast of Landing Zone Uplift, about 300 miles northeast of Saigon.
   When he reached the mountain he found a freshly used trail that ran between two palm trees, then twisted and turned along the mountain's edge. "When I got to the trees I noticed the grass on both sides of the path was bent toward the trees," said the Paratrooper. "I had a feeling a booby trap had been set in the vicinity."
   The Sky Soldier knelt on one knee and began feeling around the grassy area. He found a barely visible fish wire strung across his way. "I didn't know on which side of the trail the booby trap was set, so I told my slackman to run and warn the others," continued Salazar. As the slackman left, Salazar tripped the booby trap and ran for cover. Nobody was hurt in the ensuing explosion. After the smoke and debris cleared, the troops prepared to move again.
   After taking one or two steps Salazar spotted a wait-a-minute vine lying across the trail between a small bush and a clump of rocks only four meters from the first booby trap. The 21 year old trooper commented, "I was going to step across it but something told me to check it out." The Santa Barbara Ca, resident picked up the vine and began inching his fingers along it toward the bush. He heard the ping of a spoon flying off a hand grenade. "I yelled a warning and everyone dove for cover," said the soldier, "but nothing happended." As it turned out a safety pin (in this case, one normally used on baby diapers) remained in the grenade, which was imbedded in the ground. Salazar retrieved the explosive and threw it into the bush were it harmlessly exploded. Salazar remarked, "By this time I was a little nervous. I became even more alert from then on."
   The two Platoons of Co B, 1/503rd Inf, continued on their way. Salazar moved down the trail and up a small knoll. Again he heard the sound of a spoon fly off a grenade and yelled a warning. After waiting approximately 10 seconds the explosion never occured. The rusted dud grenade was also triggered by his foot striking an unseen fish wire. Salazar disposed of the blasting cap and kept the grenade.
   By this time the Company was in the area where an enemy element was spotted a day earlier. The Infantrymen began breaking down into groups of two to search the surrounding area. Salazar checked a trail with fresh foot prints, branching in another direction. About 10 meters down the path he saw a trampled area. He stuck his hand into the grass and followed another fish line to a small bush, across from a hedgerow. The grenade he found was hanging in a branch. It needed only somebody to trip the wire to blow up.
   Salazar showed the grenade to his Company Commander, Captain Dennis M Hirsch, Cleveland Ohio, who was astonished. "Salazar found all those booby traps less than 75 meters apart. A good man is always alert, and he proved himself by finding all four of the explosives. I have nothing but praise for him. Salazar knows his job and does it well."
   A native of Mexico City Mex, and not yet an American citizen, Salazar has found more than 30 boobytraps during his 10 months in Vietnam. Most of the booby traps he found were 105mm artillery rounds. "The big ones are usually easy to find," he concluded. "Its the small booby traps that are easily missed."

Ambush by VC Foiled

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   A bolt of an AK47 rifle betrayed an enemy ambush, and soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile) turned the tables on the Viet Cong.
   Pfc Joseph Holmes, Augusta Ga., was walking point for 3rd Platoon, Alpha Company 3/506th Inf, when he heard the bolt of a rifle go forward in the treeline to his front. Holmes hit the ground and opened up with his M16. A firefight developed quickly and the lead Squad was pinned down. The rest of the Platoon was deployed to the enemy's flanks, and "Charlie" found himself in a crossfire.
   When the Gunships arrived and began working out on the enemy positions, the 101st soldiers continued to fire into the enemy positions. Finally, as darkness began to fall, the fire fight subsided, and the enemy chose to clear out rather than risk continued fire from the Americans.
   The ambush which was so alertly detected by the men of the 101st, was completely ineffective, there were no American casualties. Enemy casualties are not known at this time, but the alertness of these soldiers will surely he remembered by the enemy. The action took place close to the Suoi Phu My River near LZ North English, where the 101st is working with the 173d Airborne Brigade.

Song Fest Ends as Rangers Kill 4 NVA, Capture 5 AK's

   Four North Vietnamese regulars sang their way to death as a 173d Airborne Brigade Ranger team shattered their musical notes with small arms fire and captured five AK47 rifles.
   The team was operating nine miles northwest of Landing Zone English, located near the coast about 300 miles northeast of Saigon. Team Bravo, Co N, 75th Infantry, Rangers, observed lights and heard shots and voices at the base of a mountain during the night.
   "The next morning we headed down a finger toward the area where we saw the light," explained Sgt Darryl J. Paul of Monrovia, Calif, a scout with the team. "We moved about 500 meters and came across a trail." The Rangers followed the trail until it branched out into a fork. Assistant Team Leader, Sp4 Jimmy D. Gray, Porterville Ca, said, "Two of us dropped our rucksacks and continued on the trail leading off to the right. After following it for about 50 meters, we found ourselves on top of a small hill used as an observation position. We heard people singing on the other side of the hill."
   The two Paratroopers rejoined the other scouts who also heard the voices. Sp4 Lielie D Elegel, Coeur d'Alene Idaho, the radio telephone operator, requested Gunships. "I informed our rear area that we located a possible Base Camp and people were in it," he said. The Team Leader, Sgt Scotty L Norwood, Meridian Miss, briefed his team. "We moved real slow because of the loose rocks and stones in the area. We made the least noise possible."
   After advancing 20 meters the Pointman, Sp4 John R Knaus, Newark, NJ, saw two enemy soldiers standing among some boulders near caves. "I signaled the team that I saw the soldiers and we got into position." Firing their weapons and tossing hand grenades, the Rangers charged the enemy. "We caught them by surprise," commented Pfc Donald F. Bizadi, Chinle Arizona. "The ones that were fortunate enough to escape will never forget that song fest." Following the 45 minute fire fight, the team collected 10 chicom hand grenades, six rucksacks, 10 pith helmets and five pounds of documents.

Scope Helpful In 2nd Bn Ambush

By PFC Will Scaff

    BONG SON- A unit of NVA soldiers cautiously approached a seemingly deserted village, forty miles northwest of Qui Nhon, unaware that every move was being watched through a starlight scope. The eleven man patrol from Bravo Company, 2d Battalion, 503d Infantry, 173d Airborne Brigade, had set up an ambush inside a small village. From their position in a hooch they could observe a rice paddy and a trail directly to their front. With the help of the starlight scope, Lt Larry LeRay of Thibodeaux La, spotted one NVA soldier moving cautiously across the rice paddy 150 meters from the village. Three more NVA appeared in the area and were soon followed by a Platoon. LeRay called in Artillery fire which pelted the area and caused the enemy to move toward the village.
    Once again the small farming community was silent, until Sp4 Lynn "Doc" Luke of Dallas Texas heard chickens cackling by the village trail. One NVA scout was carefully scanning the area around the trail. He began to move toward the village and was soon followed by the rest of the element. LeRay waited until about nine NVA were on the trail and then lobbed a "frag" grenade into their line. "We opened fire on them," exclaimed SSgt Richard A. Orr from Ocala Florida. The first four made a break for the hooch to the left rear of the ambush position. The others scattered and retreated down the trail. The NVA occupied hooch opened up with an automatic weapon and SGT Larry Marcotte of Abilene Kansas, answered back with his claymore mine killing two of them. The eleven man team continued to fire their weapons and drop grenades on the NVA infested areas; then two gunships and the 3d Platoon moved in to reinforce the patrol. The gunships fired on the hooches and swept the trail to the front of the ambush position, putting a cease to NVA resistance.
    The next morning, Lt LeRay and his men combed the area finding five dead NVA soldiers. One blood trail led to a wounded Political Officer hiding in a bunker. Among the equipment found was one AK-47, an M-16 rifle with plenty of ammo and grenades. They also found three rucksacks which contained clean fatigues, several B-40 rocket fuses, one pre assembled booby trap and plenty of chow. One of the rucksacks had belonged to an NVA Officer and held several documents showing an attack planned for LZ English, locations of weapon caches and mortar sites, and names of people in the unit.

Tet Truce Broken 5 NVA Killed

   Five North Vietnamese soldiers who broke the Tet truce paid for their mistake when they tangled with two combined 173d Airborne Brigade Ranger teams nine miles from Landing Zone English.
   Teams Delta and Golf, Co N, 75th Infantry (Rangers), were searching for an enemy base camp in the An Lao Valley, 300 miles north of Saigon. The Paratroopers heard automatic weapons fire 300 meters from their position and went to investigate. The teams moved a short distance toward the firing, then set up an ambush site. Three of the Rangers left the site and set up a spotting position 70 meters away.
   "We had just set up on a 15 foot embankment above a well-used trail when I spotted 12 enemy soldiers come around a bend beneath our position," remarked Sp4 Richard L Jones, Elizabethtown, Ky, an assistant team leader. The radio telephone operator, Sp4 James G Leek, East Liverpool Ohio, notified the waiting ambush team. He said, "We let them slide by us because we knew what was in store for them."
   The ambushers were ready as the 12 men approached their position. Sp4 Fred D. Hardman, Union Furnace Ohio, the Golf team leader said, "I just turned to face the trail after checking our rear security when I saw them coming. Each man picked out one enemy soldier as they walked into sight. Then I initiated the ambush." According to Sp4 Michael A Keeling, Norfolk Va, a scout, "the fire fight was over in a matter of seconds."
   Staff Sgt Gerald A Turner Lincoln Park, Mich, Delta team leader stated, "there were numerous blood trails leading into the bushes. We followed some of them but didn't find any bodies other than the five we killed on initial contact." The teams extracted five rucksacks, three Chicom hand grenades and five loaded M16 magazines.

reconed the village for good ambush sites," he recalled. "Then, to keep from making noise with a large unit, I took three men and infiltrated into the hamlet."
   Quietly they moved into the village. Scott noticed a hut where there was an unusually bright light and loud noises, and keeping in the darkness of shadows, the four Paratroopers approached a gathering of people who had just come out. Suddenly a weapon opened up from the left of the hut. Ducking quickly, the four Paratroopers returned automatic fire hitting two figures in the shadows. An exploding grenade sent shrapnel flying into Scott's arm.
   "Just after I felt the metal tear into my arm, I saw a figure running toward us with something in hand," said Scott. "I fired a quick burst and sent him reeling down the path." Taking cover behind logs in the village, the men strained their eyes, trying to spot movement or weapons. For several long seconds there was a deafening quiet.
   Then an explosion leveled the hut near them, but miracuously none of the Paratroopers were hurt. Almost as soon as the tremendous noise rocked the entire village, Scott took his three man and charged a large clump of vegetation outside the village, with M16's firing into the thick undebrush. Scott quickly called in his Platoon reaction force as a large volume of fire ripped through the area, making him and his men take cover.
   The firing stopped five minutes later when the Platoon linked up with Scott. "We made a quick sweep of the area and found three dead VC, seven grenades, 200 feet of monofilament lines 100 pounds of rice, peanuts, potatoes, fruit and batteries. The crater made by the explosion that demolished the hut was more than four meters in diameter and nearly three feet deep. How we kept from getting wounded in that blast, I'll never know." Shortly after the battle, the Platoon found two rifles.

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New CO in First Bn

As the torrid sun began to beat a strong tempo on LZ Uplift late in the morning of August 17, the 1st Bn colors were passed from Lt Col Manley H Cosper Jr, to Lt Col Leslie K Nakamura, of Honolulu.
Lt Col Cosper is headed for a European assignment, while Lt Col Nakamura has worked for a short time as the Brigade S-3 and prior to that at Department of the Army headquarters where he was an assistant Chief of Staff for force development as a budget analyst.
This is the third RVN tour for the University of Hawaii graduate. He had a previous Airborne assignment with the 101st Abn Div when it was at Ft Campbell Ky, during 1962 and 1963.
The new 37 yr-old commander of the 1st Bn is a Command and General Staff College graduate, has two children, and a wife named Gisela. Perhaps the most unusual assignment of his career was his attendance at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey Ca, where he completed the highly competitive Defense Management Systems Course.

Airborne Transports

   Every morning they roll out of Phu Tai, bearing essential supplies and equipment for the 173d Airborne Bdgade. Yet few people realize the importance of the trucks and drivers of the Transportation Platoon of Co C,(S&S) 173d Support Battalion. Better known as the Airborne Express, the Platoon's 5 ton and 2 1/2 ton vehicles average 18,000 miles and 975 tons of supplies monthly. And the skill of the drivers doesn't stop at the wheel. In an ambush last June the convoy completed its mission of getting the supplies to the destination despite two men wounded and two vehicles destroyed.
   Part of the success of the Platoon is the pride the men take in their vehicles and their job, according to Staff Sgt Leonard Bussius, the Platoon Sergeant for the unit. During the most recent CMMI and AGI, the Airborne Express came out smelling like a rose-a difficult feat when you consider the amount of wear and tear the vehicles undergo.
   Another unique facet of the Platoon is the plaque they have mounted on each truck. A pair of Senior Jump Wings and a razor represent the sharp Airborne Troopers who keep the lifeline of the Herd unbroken.

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Veteran of 875 Returns

'I Wanted to Finish the Job I Started'

   LZ ENGLISH- A third tour is usually nothing unusual, especially to the 173d's Troopers. It's just that this Sky Soldier was once medically retired from the Army...with 100 percent disability.
   He took four rounds from an RPD machine gun during the Battle of Dak To in November 1967. One bullet hit him in the side, the other three shattered his left arm. The Doctors managed to save the arm but he was left with the problem of limited movement and partial paralysis.
   Sgt Ralph A Raperto of Catonsville Md, is back with the 173d Airborne Brigade. The three-tour vet returned because, "I lost a lot of buddies here. I wanted to finish the job I started."
   The struggle to regain the use of his arm took nearly a year. The many hours spent in physical therapy were often painful. He had to train the remaining muscles to do the work that had been previously handled by a full set of healthy muscles. Still this was only the beginning. The Paratrooper was determined to return to his old unit. The miles and miles of red tape took seven months of full time work. The trail required him to correspond with scores of officials. His letters and telegrams were sent to everyone from Senators to clerks. Finally his Senator's office set him up with an appointment at the Surgeon General's office. After a brief interview he was granted a waiver allowing him to return to active duty and jump status.
   Of course the personnel involved had no idea what the gutty Paratrooper was up to. He was still planning on going back to combat with his old unit. But that would take time. The Army stationed him with the 82d Airborne at Ft Bragg, NC. The 21 year old Sergeant faced garrision duty for six months. He had been continually trying to get a reassignment to the 173d.
   When everyone had forgotten the facts concerning his case he was able to obtain a direct assignment to Vietnam, from the Department of the Army... and back to his old unit, the 173d Airborne Brigade. He wouldn't have anything to do with a rear job. He had returned for combat and that was where he was going. Finally Raperto was once again 'Humpin' in the Boonies', this time with A Co, 2d Bn, 503d Inf.
   The duty with a Combat Line Company is never easy, even for an athlete in tiptop shape. The hills, thick jungles, swamps, and intense heat give the best of men problems. Still Raperto has stuck it out for over 11 months. He's going home soon on normal rotation. "I always carried my own load," he says. "It was never easy and at times it hurt me a lot. Still, it was something I had to do." Sgt Ralph Raperto finished the job he started.

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from

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Sunshine Superman Lights up the Night

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   LZ UPLIFT- Night is very dark on the Binh Dinh Plains when there is no moon out. Behind sandbags and thick timbers, young American Paratroopers prepare for another night of bunker guard. Harsh shadows stretch their crinkled forms out over the claymores and concertina, to lose themselves in the gloom beyond. The long night begins.
   On top of Duster Hill, in the hours previous to darkness, three 'Redlegs' began once again their nightly equipment check. The trio of Artillerymen eyeballed dials and scoped out guages, as they prepared their weapon for the coming night.
   In a drafty bunker tower a new trooper spends the first night of many long nights on guard. His thoughts turn toward home and a young wife. A slight scuffling in the wire turns him immediately alert. Something scurries into the shadows- only a rat. The Paratrooper's stomach muscles relax a little bit as he eases the M16 selector switch back to safe. Then a slight movement catches the corner of his eye, but just barely. Did he see it or didn't he? Hesitation, then a quick decision. He reaches for the bunker's field phone.
   'Net control, go'.... "This is Bunker Nine, hey, I think I have movement out there."
"Do you want illumination?" A radio hand set goes into action. The air in the distant orderly room tingles with sudden tension. The young Paratrooper's palms are getting moist, his phone feels slippery in his hand. 'Yeah.' "Where is the movement?" The radio crackles under the harsh light of the orderly room. "About 200 meters up the highway on the left, I think."

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   "Roger, wait, out." The message goes up over the radio waves and a game of Rummy is terminated in mid-hand. Setting down his cards, a young soldier picks up his hand set. "This is Sunshine Superman. Send, over." Pfc Clarence Bishop of Newport News Va, responds to the call. Roger, I have that grid plotted; mission coming up, Out." The young artilleryman feels a breeze blow across his skin as he steps out of his hootch atop Duster Hill. The roar of the generator fills the night air. He flips a toggle switch on the "weapon" and 1.2 billion candle power rips away the velvet blackness of the protecting night. The rattling cough of M16 fire erupts from Bunker Nine.
   "I think I got him." The young Paratrooper puts his rifle back on safe. "This is Sunshine Superman, I roger end of mission. Out." The switch is flicked off and the generator noises die away. Bishop returns to his game of Rummy. The "weapon" cools in the evening wind. Lights twinkle aboard hundreds of tiny fishing boats bobbing in the South China Sea, twelve clicks away. Bishop thinks of home and the lights he used to see across the bay. Sp5 Leroy Brazfild checks out the huge searchlight. A native of Los Cannes New Mexico, Brazfild has been in charge of the light for three months. Inside the hootch mustachioed Sp4 Craig Huffman of Denver Co, sleeps on, undisturbed. With six months in country, he dreams of an early out to attend college. His goal, a teaching degree. On the wall over his head hangs a flag of black, yellow and red, an award for being a good unit.
   Painted across a breastwork of old "Duster" round shipping cases is the red lettered sign; "We light 'em, You fight 'em". With a range of 34 clicks, this big searchlight can definitely "light 'em". The big light sits upon a two-wheeled trailer, a black power cable snaking back up the hill to the big generator trailer. A sign on the light's side warns not to expose skin or eyes to the unshielded beam "Or damage will result-" A sniper, aiming his rifle at the beam of light, would have his eyeballs fried before he could pull the trigger.
   As Brazfild covers the big light with its tarp, he explains that he and his crew pull four-hour shifts every night. He points out a card with a list of coordinates on it and shows how his crew can dial areas to be illuminated by setting the azimuth and elevation wheels mounted on the light. In the quiet hours of the morning a young Paratrooper wakes his buddy, passes the watch and spreads his poncho liner over the newly vacated cot. He's asleep before his head touches the canvas. By the light of a dim lamp, Huffman gets up, rubbing his eyes, and walks over to the radio. He begins his guard with a commo check.
   On the South China Sea, two fishermen, one very young and one very old, drag in the last heavy net of a good night's haul. The lantern dances and bob from the small boat's bow. Laying on his cot, Bishop dreams of the lights of home as the sun rises on another day in Vietnam.

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From Diddy Bop To Bits & Pieces

   LZ North English- The 173d Airborne Brigade has incorporated a new method of dealing death to communists in northern Binh Dinh Province. Mechanical ambush is the name, and the game is to deny more territory to the enemy by insuring his abrupt halt as he 'diddy-bops' along the mountain trails. The old method of command detonating the claymores one at a time didn't always work, since full and instantaneous coverage of the kill zone was not always obtained. Also, more men were needed to man the ambush. However, a handful of men can control several of the automatic alpha-kickers.
   Used only in well-defined areas restricted from civilians, this recent innovation is simply a series of claymore mines rigged to detonate in unison when the tripwire is triggered by an unsuspecting enemy. Employing the ambush at night increases effectiveness, as Charlie moves almost exclusively during the hours of darkness, when tripwires are most difficult to detect.
   Several ambushes can be employed to deny the enemy access to a general area, and one Squad-sized element of Infantrymen can oversee all of them from a central location. Or, if only one is used, the grunts can use the classic technique, supplementing the deadly blasts of the claymores with rifle fire and hand grenades. The ambush is set up at dusk and dismantled at dawn, if not used that night. Usually there is one man in the squad who is responsible for setting up and dismantling, this way there is less likelihood of an accident.
   In the May-June issue of Infantry magazine, the 1st Cavalry Div is credited with killing 97 enemy during the first two months of this year through use of the mechanical ambush. Over 40 weapons were captured. At present, these are the only statistics available, but Cpt Harry Klein, CO of D Co, 4th Bn, 503d Inf has also experienced success with the new weapon and is highly enthused over it. The native of Kalamazoo Mi, readily affirms the ability of the automatic ambush to reduce the amount of traveling done by wanderin' Charlie.

By Wilson Ring Associated Press royalord.gif (170371 bytes) Former Army medic awarded medal earned in Vietnam June 30, 2004

A NC.jpg (1914 bytes) New Hampshire man awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his work as a medic during a bloody battle in Vietnam says the medal is a way to remember the men who died that day.
Retired Army 1st Sgt. Claude Quick said the May 19, 1966, battle had been downplayed by Army historians and he stopped thinking about the medal he'd been recommended for until he spoke with his company commander from that day.
The officer thought Quick had received the award, the second highest medal for valor awarded by the U.S. military, decades ago.
There are 41 names are on the wall just from the 19th of May alone, said Quick, referring to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, which lists the names of all those killed in Vietnam. Something has to be done where they are remembered.
So in late 2001, retired Lt. Col. Cedric Blackwell Jr., of Carlisle, Pa., sent a letter to the Army's Military Awards Branch through Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, recounting Quicks actions.
The letter tells how Quick, then a 20-year-old Army specialist, despite being wounded himself, kept pulling wounded soldiers to the rear to safety during a vicious 24-hour battle in which American soldiers of the 27th Infantry Regiment were being cut down on all sides. In the chaos of the situation, I could not witness every one of Quicks` actions, but I will never forget what I saw, wrote Blackwell. It seemed that he was everywhere, patching and reassuring the wounded.
Quick him self, was stabbed with a bayonet and had multiple shrapnel wounds. At one point, another medic, who had been sent to collect the wounded when Quick was thought to be out of action, was killed.
Quick then continued pulling the wounded to safety. That day was a really bad day, Quick said.
The original 1966 recommendation for the award was apparently misplaced in Vietnam.
It took almost three years of tracking down witnesses and gathering statements before Quick was awarded the medal he had earned more than
38 years before during a June 7 ceremony at the Pentagon.
Quick, 57, is a native of New Yorks` Hudson Valley but declared Belvedere, Vt. the hometown of his late first wife his home around the time he joined the Army in 1964.
He retired from the Army in 1984, but was recalled for six months during the Gulf War. He returned to Vermont in 1987.
Last year he moved to Pittsfield, N.H. Hes now in the process of moving to Berlin, N.H., to be near his wife's family.
Almost 40 years after the battle of Bo Loi Woods, Quick says the Vietnam War still is something he thinks about all the time. I dream about it every night, he said. I don"t think you ever stop.
Quick says his experiences in Vietnam give special meaning to watching young Americans fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am proud of our soldiers over there, he said, including a nephew serving in Iraq. And the unit he fought with on May
19, 1966, the 27th Infantry Regiment, the Wolfhounds, of the 25th Infantry Division, is in Afghanistan searching for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. I think it would be so great if my old combat unit could bring in bin Laden, he said. Quick is now living on a disability pension from the Veterans Administration. He says hes looking forward to a quiet life in New Hampshire's North Country.

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If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you

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But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,

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If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

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If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--

you'll be a Man, my son!

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Iraq

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U.S. Paratroopers Drop Out Of Night Sky Into Iraq

U.S. troops are working to secure an airfield in northern Iraq, as the military opens a northern front against Iraqi forces.

Gen. James Parker says the new front will put more pressure on Saddam Hussein's forces, which are already battling allied troops to the south.

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He said it may also serve as a "warning" to Turkish forces. Turkey had been considering sending troops into northern Iraq, something the United States opposes.

The plan is to battle the estimated 100,000 Iraqi troops dug in along the line dividing northern Iraq from the rest of the country.

About 1,000 U.S. paratroopers dropped out of the night sky in the Kurdish-controlled region.

Three waves of combat planes provided cover, hitting Iraqi ground troops and artillery batteries.

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Rangers and other paratroopers from the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade are now trying to secure the airfield, where supplies and support personnel are to arrive.

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Their airdrop marks the first large deployment of U.S. ground troops in the region. Previously, only small groups of U.S. Special Forces were operating along with allied Kurdish fighters.

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VICENZA, Italy — It could be easy to get the impression that members of the 173rd Airborne Brigade aren’t fond of their home base.

After all, they always seem to be on the go.

“There are guys here who will have a three-year tour with the 173rd and have two years in combat,” Col. Kevin Owens, the brigade’s new commander, said Monday, referring to the unit’s upcoming deployment to Afghanistan.

After returning from almost a year in Iraq, Owens said, soldiers will have a year back on Caserma Ederle before heading off again to southwest Asia.

But it’ll be close.

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Current plans call for the brigade to start deploying in late February or early March. Many of them returned from Iraq during the same time frame this year.

“I had an idea we would be going back,” said Spc. Tim Rogers of Battery D, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment. “But I didn’t think it was going to be this quick.”

Not that Rogers, or four other soldiers interviewed Monday, are complaining.

“It really doesn’t bother me,” he said.

Pfc. Anthony Orr certainly wouldn’t mind more time with his wife, Bridget, or his infant daughter, Halee. She was born just a few months before he deployed to Iraq. The couple had been married only a short time before the deployment.

“It was hard starting off with a new family, not being with them at all,” he said. “I’m hoping that this time, it’ll be easier.”

Don’t count on it, Kathy Wooten says.

“It’s just getting harder,” Wooten says of the fifth time her husband will be deployed during their seven-year marriage.

Asked earlier how many years they’ve been married, she says: “as long as he’s been deployed.”

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For his part, Charles Wooten, a staff sergeant with the 501st Forward Support Company, looks on the upcoming deployment as a test of his leadership. He said his unit has a lot of new soldiers who joined the brigade after the Iraq deployment. Wooten sums up the Iraq deployment as “challenging. I learned a lot from Iraq.”

Owens said the brigade will be counting on such experience.

“It’s going to be a squad leadership, platoon leadership fight,” he said.

“It is a decentralized fight.”

Owens knows a bit about Afghanistan. He served on the Southern European Task Force (Airborne) command staff while the brigade was in Iraq. But before going to Italy, he spent four months in 2002 leading the 2nd Ranger Battalion in Afghanistan.

He said although the brigade hasn’t been to Afghanistan, “there are a lot of leaders in the brigade that have experience in Afghanistan as well.”

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That includes the commanders of the brigade’s two infantry battalions: Lt. Col. Timothy McGuire, of the 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment, and Lt. Col. Mark Stammer, of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment.

The new members of each battalion — estimated at one-third of the entire force during Owens’ assumption of command June 25 — will have a chance to integrate with the old guard very soon.

Owens said each battalion would spend a little more than two weeks training in Hohenfels, Germany, starting at the end of the month. The entire brigade will then travel north and train for about six weeks beginning in late September.

He said soldiers would see similarities between their tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. But they’ll see a lot of differences, as well. Iraqis are among the most educated people in the region and — despite massive problems with infrastructure — live in a country that’s decades or centuries ahead of their Afghani counterparts in many respects.

“It’s a desolate place,” Owens said of Afghanistan. “I don’t think that place has really changed for centuries.”

He said Afghanistan might be relatively safer these days for U.S. soldiers, but it’s not exactly a vacation spot.

Still, Wooten says with a smile: “If I had a pick, I’d prefer Afghanistan.”

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Spc. Charles DeWitt from the 2-503rd smiles when asked about the possibility of hunting for Osama bid Laden. He recalls a lot of similar missions in Iraq looking for high-profile targets, many of which didn’t turn up anything.

“I didn’t enjoy standing around in blazing sun with 120 pounds of gear for five hours,” he says. “But would I do it again? Without question.”

Sgt. 1st Class James Litchford, with the 1-508th, said he decided to stay longer with the 173rd, knowing that it would likely be deploying again soon.

“I like the unit,” he said. “It’s got good leadership and a proud history.”

A history that will soon include another long deployment far from home.

July, 2003: Soldiers with the 173rd Airborne Brigade’s Combat Support Company block a road on the outskirts of Kirkuk, Iraq, while experts blow up unexploded ordnance found in the area.
Familiar leadership for this deployment

There won’t be much of a transition for the 173rd Airborne Brigade when it comes to working with its higher headquarters during its upcoming deployment.

The 173rd, assigned to the 4th Infantry Division during its previous deployment to Iraq, will fall under the leadership of the Southern European Task Force (Airborne) in Afghanistan this time. The 173rd is normally part of SETAF, with both headquartered in Vicenza.

“Certainly, there are a lot of pluses,” said Col. Kevin Owens, the brigade commander. “How could it not be good?”

While SETAF, commanded by Brig. Gen. Jason Kamiya, and the 173rd always share a close working relationship, the current alignment of officers makes it even more so.

Owens took over the brigade in June after a year as the SETAF operations officer. And his 173rd predecessor, Col. Bill Mayville, is now SETAF chief of staff.

While the 173rd was deployed to Iraq, dozens of members of the SETAF headquarters staff spent months off the cost of Liberia, directing U.S. peacekeeping efforts there.

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FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- As many as 5,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division will be sent to Afghanistan - many for a second tour - as part of the Army's rotation of troops, commanders said Monday.

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Soldiers are expected to start leaving their North Carolina post in the spring and will be gone about a year. The paratroopers will be assigned with troops from the Italy-based 173rd Airborne Brigade and replace soldiers from the Hawaii-based 25th Infantry Division.

The deployment will begin with about 3,000 soldiers and could total about 5,000 once all the needs are known and more orders are issued, Army officials said.

Some 65 percent of the soldiers have been previously deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and will bring valuable experience to this mission, said Col. Patrick Donahue, who will command the Fort Bragg soldiers.

The core of Donahue's unit comes from two battalions of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment that will deploy as the 1st Brigade Combat Team after artillery and support units are added.

"Our paratroopers and our families know firsthand that we are a nation at war," Donahue said at a news conference Monday to announce the deployment.

Donahue said his soldiers are training for conditions they will encounter in Afghanistan, but do not plan to be overly reliant on lessons learned in previous deployments.

"We can't be blinded by our experience," he said. "We know the enemy adapts to our tactics."

Also Monday, Camp Lejeune announced that more than 2,200 Marines and sailors stationed in Afghanistan will return home Wednesday.

The 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, which deployed in mid-February, killed more than 100 Taliban and guerrilla fighters, Camp Lejeune said.

The MEU also provided security to U.N. voter registration sites and started more than 80 civil-military projects, including digging wells in drought-ravaged communities.

Soldiers from the 82nd who spent previous deployments in Iraq will find Afghanistan a very different mission, Donahue said. In Baghdad, soldiers had to patrol a sector that included 400,000 residents and little local police presence. In Afghanistan, the towns and cities are smaller and the local security forces are effective, but the terrain and weather are rougher, he said.

In addition to the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 504th, other units deploying to Afghanistan include the 3rd Battalion of the 319th Field Artillery Regiment, the 307th Forward Support Battalion, airborne engineers, military intelligence and headquarters troops, said Col. Michael Ferriter, assistant 82nd commander for operations.

The Army has said previously it plans to add 5,300 personnel in a new 82nd Airborne brigade next year, with the troops coming from a temporary increase in the size of the Army. Ferriter said the deployment announced Monday will mean at least a seven-month delay in that expansion.

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Nearly every unit of the 82nd has been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan at least once since Sept. 11, 2001, Ferriter said. The 504th is the least-deployed regimental-sized unit, putting it at the head of the line for deployment.

Soldiers from the units that received deployment notices Monday said they looked forward to going to Afghanistan - even Spc. George Perez, 21, who lost the lower part of his left leg to a roadside bomb in Iraq and now walks with a prosthesis.

"I'm just happy I'm going," said Perez, who re-enlisted for an additional six years in the military even after losing his leg.

Perez, who has a new "Airborne" tattoo on his right forearm, said his wife of two months understands his love for the military. Though he can no longer patrol as an infantry soldier, he said he plans to jump with his unit before deploying and work repairing weapons in Afghanistan.

Pfc. Chris Koehn, 22, of Livingston, Mont., is a cook in the 82nd and said 40 days he spent in Iraq helped prepare him for a year in Afghanistan, where he will rise around 4 a.m. to prepare a 6 a.m. breakfast for 500 soldiers. During the day, he and another cook will hand out Meals Ready to Eat for lunch and prepare hot suppers.

Married about 18 months, Koehn said he comes from a military family that expects deployments and feels it is his duty "to stand up for my wife and your family."

Pfc. Leticia Otiz, 19, of San Bruno, Calif., a personnel clerk, and Spc. Matthew Haynes, 21, of Knoxville, Tenn., a vehicle mechanic, expressed similar sentiments.

Ortiz said it will be her first deployment but she is excited and confident that other soldiers will help her stay safe.

Haynes spent 8 1/2 months in Afghanistan in 2003, mostly recovering broken Humvees and repairing them.

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"The environment is pretty rough on the vehicles ... the sand and the heat," Haynes said.

Wheres the Pentagon Plane???

http://pages.infinit.net/noc/pentagon.swf

So where the hell's our news media NOW?

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1st Lt. Brian Chontosh presented the Navy Cross.. flgnavy.gif (11488 bytes) .

Maybe you'd like to hear about something other than idiot Reservists and naked Iraqis. Maybe you'd like to hear about a real American, somebody who honored the uniform he wears.

flusmcclr.gif (7607 bytes) Meet Brian Chontosh; Churchville-Chili, NY Central School class of 1991, Proud graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology, Husband and about-to-be father, First Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, And a genuine hero. The Secretary of the Navy said so May 6th. At 29 Palms in California, Brian Chontosh was presented with the Navy Cross, the second highest award for combat bravery the United States can bestow.

flgarmy.gif (6531 bytes) That's a big deal. But you won't see it on the network news tonight, and all you read in Brian's hometown newspaper was two paragraphs of nothing. Instead, it was more blather about some mental defective MPs who acted like animals. The odd fact about the American media in this war is that it's not covering the American military. The most plugged-in nation in the world is receiving virtually no true information about what its warriors are doing.

flgnavy.gif (11488 bytes) Oh, sure, there's a body count. We know how many Americans have fallen. And we see those same casket pictures day in and day out. And we're almost on a first-name basis with the pukes who abused the Iraqi prisoners. And we know all about improvised explosive devices and how we lost Fallujah and what Arab public-opinion polls say about us and how the world hates us. We get a non-stop feed of gloom and doom. But we don't hear about these heroes.
The incredibly brave GI`s who honorably do their duty. The ones our grandparents would have carried on their shoulders down Fifth Avenue. The ones we completely ignore… Like Brian Chontosh.

flgaforce.gif (6862 bytes) It was a year ago on the march into Baghdad. Brian Chontosh was a platoon leader rolling up Highway 1 in a hum-vee when all hell broke loose. Ambush city. The young Marines were being cut to ribbons. Mortars, machine guns, rocket propelled grenades. And the kid out of Churchville was in charge. It was do or die and it was up to him.

flgcoast.gif (10027 bytes) So he moved to the side of his column, looking for a way to lead his men to safety. As he tried to poke a hole through the Iraqi line his hum-vee came under direct enemy machine gun fire. It was fish in a barrel and the Marines were the fish.

flyingflagpow.gif (10136 bytes) And Brian Chontosh gave the order to attack. He told his driver to floor the hum-vee directly at the machine gun emplacement that was firing at them. And he had the guy on top with the .50 cal unload on them. Within moments there were Iraqis slumped across the machine gun and Chontosh was still advancing, ordering his driver now to take the hum-vee directly into the Iraqi trench that was attacking his Marines. Over into the battlement the hum-vee went and out the door Brian Chontosh bailed, carrying an M16 and a Beretta and 228 years of Marine Corps pride. And he ran down the trench. With its mortars and riflemen, machine-guns and grenadiers. And he killed them all.

flusmcclr.gif (7607 bytes) He fought with the M16 until he was out of ammo. Then he fought with the Beretta until it was out of ammo. Then he picked up a dead man's AK47 and fought with that until it was out of ammo. Then he picked up another dead man's AK47 and fought with that until it was out of ammo. At one point he even fired a discarded Iraqi RPG into an enemy cluster, sending attackers flying with its grenade explosion.

When he was done Brian Chontosh had cleared 200 yards of entrenched Iraqis from his platoon's flank. He had killed more than 20 and wounded at least as many more.

mailedD3.gif (12092 bytes) But that's probably not how he would tell it. He would probably merely say that his Marines were in trouble, and he got them out of trouble. Hoo-ah, and drive on.

"By his outstanding display of decisive leadership, unlimited courage in the face of heavy enemy fire, and utmost devotion to duty, 1st Lt. Chontosh reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service." flgcoast.gif (10027 bytes) That's what the citation says.

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And that's what nobody will hear. That's what doesn't seem to be making the evening news. Accounts of American valor are dismissed by the press as propaganda, yet accounts of American difficulties are heralded as objectivity. It makes you wonder if the role of the media is to inform or to depress -- to report or to deride -- to tell the truth or to feed us lies.

A short video of the awards ceremony may be found flusmcclr.gif (7607 bytes) at